NEW ZEALAND
Stairway to heaven
In the bush west of Kerikeri, a small town in northern New Zealand, a Korean spiritual leader says he is building a global headquarters for an organisation of 100 million members.
PACIFIC
Another Samoa: Tramping in the tropics
Hikers’ haven American Samoa is home to the only US national park in the Southern Hemisphere.
MIDDLE EAST
Best Mideast stopover: Dubai or Oman?
Your long-haul flight is touching down in Dubai and you want to make a stopover of it – but do you stay in the United Arab Emirates or head to nearby Oman? Here’s my verdict.
ASIA
Against the odds: Surviving the Burma railroad
Seventy-five years after being conscripted into the Dutch East Army during World War II, a Northland man’s service – and his ordeal on the notorious Burma railroad – has finally been recognised.
CAUCASUS
Looking for Uncle Joe
Joseph Stalin is alive and well in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.
EUROPE
Romania’s singing sheepdogs
One of my favourite experiences during my last visit to Romania involved a chance encounter with a shepherd, a pack of singing sheepdogs and a 19th-century-style road crash involving a horse-drawn cart.
